Blockchain-Enabled Targeted Content System

ABSTRACT

Targeted content is provided for display on a user device by detecting a first user interaction between the user device and a currently viewed webpage. A first transaction that includes a first user device identifier for the user device is generated. The first transaction is broadcasted to cause the first transaction to be sent to a smart contract stored in a distributed ledger. In response to the execution of the smart contract, first user information associated with a second user interaction between the user device and a previously viewed webpage that occurred prior to the first user interaction is received. Content for display on the user device via the currently viewed webpage is determined based on the first user information and the content is provided for display on the user device within the currently viewed webpage.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to providing content to a userthrough a webpage, and more particularly to enabling the provisioning oftargeted content to a user through a webpage using smart contractsstored on a blockchain.

Blockchains, also referred to herein as distributed ledgers, are used totrack transactions involving crypto currencies (also called virtualcurrencies) such as, for example, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monera,and/or other crypto currencies known in the art. Crypto currency systemsprovide decentralized digital money that is issued and maintained bydistributed software running a network of computing devices, rather thanby central banks or public authorities that conventionally issue andcontrol fiat currencies. For example, Bitcoin is a type of decentralizedcrypto currency that provides for peer-to-peer transactions without anintermediary, with those peer-to-peer transactions verified by Bitcoinnetwork nodes (i.e., the distributed network of computing devicesdiscussed above) and recorded in a public distributed ledger referred toas a blockchain. Crypto currencies like Bitcoin have revolutionizedmoney transfer and payment technology by allowing for censorshipresistant, decentralized peer-to-peer transfer of values between users.

Distributed blockchains may also be used for a number of different othertechnologies besides virtual currency. For instance, Bitcoin and othercurrency focused networks provide for the execution of a basic“contract” that transfers value between users. However, networks such asthe Ethereum network have been created to store executable code (called“smart contracts”) that operates to enforce more complicatedrelationships with cryptographic software, and extensions totraditionally currency-centric blockchains such as the Bitcoin networkhave proposed similar enhanced functionality as well. For example, suchsmart contracts may monitor for conditions defined in the smart contractand, when a condition is determined to be present, the code may executeand provide an output. As such, smart contracts allow two or moreparties to perform more relatively complex transactions in adecentralized, self-executing, self-enforceable manner to provideirreversible transactions that can be tracked on a blockchain andwithout the need for an intermediary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding targeted content using smart contracts;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an electroniccoin;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a distributedledger;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a targetedcontent system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a serviceprovider device used in the targeted content system of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a smartcontract and transactions associated with the smart contract;

FIG. 6B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the smartcontract of FIG. 6A and the transactions associated with the smartcontract;

FIG. 6C is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the smartcontract of FIGS. 6A and 6B and the transactions associated with thesmart contract;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a userdevice; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems and methods forproviding targeted content using smart contracts stored in a blockchain(which may also be referred to herein as a distributed ledger). In someembodiments, website and/or webpage technology may be enhanced toprovide targeted content such as advertisements to users viewing thosewebsites or webpages in order to ensure that the content enhancedwebsite or webpage is displayed to the most receptive audiences based ontraits and/or behavioral variables of that audience such as, forexample, browsing histories, purchase histories, recent activity on theInternet, and/or a variety of other traits that would be apparent to oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. The goal ofsuch targeted-content-enhanced websites/webpages is to provide usersviewing the website/webpage with information they will be more likely toselect and/or request further information about. Similarly, contentproviders may track and use their users' histories of previously viewedvideo, image, and/or audio content to provide recommendations ofadditional content that a user may be interested in viewing. Enhancingwebsites/webpages with content, providing recommendations of additionalcontent for viewing, and/or utilizing any of a variety of userinformation histories to target content provided to a user operates toenhance user experience with a website/webpage, enhance sales ofmerchants providing products and/or services, drive users to desiredwebsites/webpages, and/or provide other benefits known in the art.

One conventional method of tracking a user's behavior on the Internet isperformed using cookies that are stored in association with a user's webbrowser. For example, cookies may be used in association with a webbrowser to record the user's browsing activity, information that theuser has entered into form fields displayed in the web browser, and/or avariety other Internet activity of the user. This information can beprovided to a content provider that may use the information to generatetargeted content for display on a website/webpage. While the use ofcookies has been beneficial to Internet advertisers and other contentproviders, this form of gathering information on users and its use toprovide targeted content has initiated privacy concerns. For example,users are often unaware that their actions on the Internet are beingtracked, and users are not provided any compensation for theirinformation that may be used and/or sold to other parties. Furthermore,cookies and other tracking software on a user device can be targeted byunscrupulous parties to obtain the sensitive user information that iscollected for illegitimate uses. As a result, some web browsers havebeen created that attempt to eliminate, disable, or otherwise preventcookies and other tracking systems from user device interactions with awebsite server, making it more difficult to provide targeted content tousers.

As discussed below, the systems and methods of the present disclosureprovide an alternative system for tracking user histories and providingtargeted content, while removing the use of tracking software from userdevices to alleviate at least some of the security concerns associatedwith the cookies discussed above. In various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, providers and/or users of the systems of the presentdisclosure may generate a smart contract for provision on a distributedledger and for use in compiling and sharing user information betweenusers of the systems. For example, each website and/or content providermay track user interactions with their website and/or content, and storethat tracked user information along with a user device identifier in adatabase associated with the service provider. The website and/orcontent provider may then generate a transaction for each trackingsession that includes a user device identifier associated with a link tothe information gathered and stored in its database. The serviceprovider may send the transaction to the smart contract provided on thedistributed ledger, which then operates to store that transaction (andits associated data) on the distributed ledger.

Subsequently, a website/page provider, content provider, or other userof the system that wants to provide targeted content (e.g., anadvertisement) to a user device that interacts with a website or webpagemay broadcast a subsequent “request” transaction that associates theuser device identifier for the user device with the smart contract inthe distributed ledger. In response to receiving the request transactionwith the user device identifier, the smart contract executes and, inresponse, operates to retrieve any or all of the user information thathas been previously associated (e.g., in previous “provisioning”transactions) with that user device identifier via the smart contract.For example, the link(s) that are stored in the provisioningtransactions (which were recorded on the blockchain after having beenpreviously sent to the smart contract) and that point to the location(s)of the user information stored on various databases (e.g., by websiteand/or content providers) may be retrieved via execution of the smartcontract and provided to the provider device that sent the requesttransaction. The service provider device may then use those link(s) toretrieve the user information from those databases, and use thatinformation to identify, generate, determine, and/or other provide newcontent for display on the user device. As would be appreciated by oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure, the use ofsmart contracts in the distributed ledger as discussed above reduces thenecessity of tracking user interactions at the user device (e.g., viacookies). Furthermore, the smart contract of the present disclosure maybe configured to provide the user more power in determining how theirinformation is disseminated, and even to provide crypto currencypayments for such information dissemination. For example, the smartcontract may be configured to allow the user of the user device todefine service providers that may or may not track and distribute theirinformation, which service providers may retrieve their information,and/or to implement a variety of other rules that would be apparent toone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5, a method 100 for providingtargeted content using smart contracts is illustrated. In someembodiments of the method 100 described below, one or more systemprovider devices may operate to perform the method 100. For example, adistributed group of devices may operate to generate (a.k.a. “mine”) acrypto currency while creating a blockchain (also referred below asdistributed ledger), and maintain the blockchain while performing themethod 100 as detailed below. The blockchain described herein may be aprivate or public distributed ledger. In another embodiment, one or moreservice provider devices may perform the method 100 to provide thetargeted content using smart contracts, as well as perform themaintenance of the blockchain and smart contract. For example, a paymentservice provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif.,may utilize a payment service provider device to perform at least someof the method 100 (e.g., tracking user interactions and retrieving userinformation) discussed below, and in some embodiments may operate incooperation with one or more other service providers (via their serviceprovider devices) and/or payees (via their payee devices) to perform themethod 100 discussed below. However, these embodiments are meant to bemerely exemplary, and one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that a wide variety of systemproviders may operate, alone or together, to provide the systems andmethods discussed herein without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of an electronic coin 200 isillustrated and described briefly for reference in the discussion below.While the examples of the electronic coin 200 and the blockchain 300 ofFIG. 3 describe the basics of electronic coins and blockchains utilizedto record currency transactions, one of skill in the art in possessionof the present disclosure will recognize that electronic coins andblockchains may be used for recording and/or tracking a variety of otherinformation such as credit information, identity information, medicalinformation, education information, other personal user information,shipment information, food traceability, property ownership, and/or anyother information that would be apparent to one of skill in the alt inpossession of the present disclosure.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, a virtual currency systemassociated with the present disclosure may define an electronic coin asa chain of digital signatures provided by previous owners of theelectronic coin to subsequent owners of the electronic coin. In theillustrated embodiment, the electronic coin 200 is owned by an owner202, and FIG. 2 illustrates how the electronic coin 200 is defined bythe digital signatures of previous owners 204, 206, and 208.Specifically, in transaction A, a hash value of the public key of owner206 the owner receiving, as a result of transaction A, an electroniccoin 200 ₁ defined by digital signatures provided up to transaction A)and the previous transaction (not illustrated, but occurring prior totransaction A) was signed by owner 208 (i.e., the owner providing, as aresult of transaction A, the electronic coin 200 ₁ defined by digitalsignatures provided up to transaction A) using a private key and addedto an initial electronic coin (which was defined by digital signaturesprovided up to the transaction prior to transaction A) such that theelectronic coin 200 ₁ was transferred to owner 206.

Similarly, in transaction 13, a hash value of the public key of owner204 (i.e., the owner receiving, as a result of transaction B, anelectronic coin 200 ₂ defined by digital signatures provided up totransaction B) and transaction A was signed by owner 206 using a privatekey and added to the electronic coin 200 ₁ such that the electronic coin200 ₂ was transferred to owner 204. Similarly, in transaction C, a hashvalue of the public key of owner 202 (i.e., the owner receiving, as aresult of transaction C, the electronic coin 200 defined by digitalsignatures provided up to transaction C) and the transaction B wassigned by owner 204 using a private key and added to the electronic coin200 ₂ such that the electronic coin 200 was transferred to owner 202. Asis understood in the art, any payee receiving an electronic coin (e.g.,owner 206 in transaction A, owner 204 in transaction B, and owner 202 intransaction C) can verify the signatures to verify the chain ofownership of the electronic coin, In the discussion below, it should beunderstood that the term “electronic coin(s)” may be used to encompassany amount or type of electronic coins or virtual/electronic currency,from fractions of a coin (e.g., 0.00564500 electronic coins) to manymultiples of coins (e.g., 56,000.00000000 electronic coins).

Referring now to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a distributed ledger 300 isillustrated and described briefly for reference in the discussion below.As discussed above, the distributed ledger 300 may operate to verifythat payers transferring an electronic coin (e.g., referring back toFIG. 2, owner 206 in transaction A, owner 204 in transaction B, andowner 202 in transaction C) did not “double-spend” (e.g., use a privatekey to sign any previous transactions involving) that electronic coin.To produce the distributed ledger 300, a distributed network of devicesoperate to agree on a single history of transactions in the order inwhich they were received such that it may be determined that atransaction between a payer and a payee using an electronic coin is thefirst transaction associated with that electronic coin. Each device inthe distributed network operates to collect new transactions into ablock, and then to increment a proof-of work system that includesdetermining a value that when hashed with the block provides a requirednumber of zero bits.

For example, for a block 302 that includes a plurality of transactions302 a, 302 b, and up to 302 c, a device in the distributed network mayincrement a nonce in the block 302. until a value is found that gives ahash value of the block 302 the required number of zero bits. The devicemay then “chain” the block 302 to the previous block 304 (which may havebeen “chained” to a previous block, not illustrated, in the samemanner). When devices in the distributed network find the proof-of-workfor a block, that block (e.g., block 302) is broadcast to thedistributed network, and other devices in the distributed network willaccept that block if all the transactions in it are valid and notalready spent (which may be determined by creating the next block usingthe hash value of the accepted block 302). The distributed network willalways consider the longest chain of blocks to be the correct one, andwill operate to continue to extend it. If a device receives twodifferent versions of a block, it will work on the first block received,but save the second block received in case the branch of the chain thatincludes the second block becomes longer (at which point that devicewill switch to working on the branch of the chain that includes thesecond block).

Referring now to FIG. 4, an embodiment of a smart contract targetedcontent system 400 is illustrated and described briefly for reference inthe method 100 discussed below. Some embodiments of the smart contracttargeted content system 400 include a service provider device 402 thatis coupled to a user information database 404 and a network 406, and aservice provider device 408 that is coupled to a user informationdatabase 410 and the network 406. In some embodiments, at least one ofthe service provider devices 402 may be operated by a payment serviceprovider such as, for example, PAYPAL® Inc. of San Jose, Calif., UnitedStates. In some embodiments, the user information database 404 may storeuser information 404 a associated with user interaction(s) withwebpage(s) provided by the service provider device 402, and the userinformation database 410 may store user information 410 a associatedwith user interaction(s) with webpage(s) provided by the serviceprovider device 410. As discussed below, the system provider device 402may be configured to retrieve the user information 404 a from the userinformation database 404 and/or retrieve user information 410 a from theuser information database 410 through the network 406, and providecontent to user device(s) 412 based on any user information receivedfrom those user information databases 404 and/or 410. Similarly, thesystem provider device 408 may be configured to retrieve the userinformation 410 a from the user information database 410 and/or retrieveuser information 404 a from the user information database 404 throughthe network 406, and provide content to user device(s) 412 based on anyuser information received from those user information databases 404and/or 410.

As such, the smart contract targeted content system 400 includes a userdevice(s) 412 that are coupled to display system(s) 412 a and thenetwork 406. The user device(s) 412 may provide web browsers to allow auser to access webpages hosted by the service provider devices 402and/or 408. In the illustrated embodiment, the smart contract targetedcontent system 400 may also include distributed ledger device(s) 414that are coupled to a transactional database 416 and the network 406. Asdiscussed above, the distributed ledger device(s) 414 may operate toreceive virtual currency transactions broadcast by the service providerdevice(s) 402 and 408 and the user device 412, confirm thosetransactions, and generate/maintain a distributed ledger 418 (i.e., apublic or private blockchain stored on each of those devices) discussedabove with reference to FIG. 3. Further still, while illustrated in.FIG. 4 and discussed in some embodiments below as operating separatelyto perform separate functions, in some embodiments, the functionality ofa the service provider device(s) 402 and 408 and the distributed ledgerdevice(s) 414 may he combined such that computing devices in adistributed network operate to maintain a distributed ledger while alsooperating to provide the targeted content as discussed below. Thus,while a specific embodiment has been illustrated, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will appreciate that smartcontract targeted content system 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 may include avariety of modification while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment of a service provider device 500is illustrated that, in some embodiments, may be the service providerdevice(s) 402 and/or 408 discussed above. As such, in some examples theservice provider device 500 may be provided by one or more serverdevices. However, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that the service provider device 500 may beprovided by any of a variety of computing devices such as desktopcomputing systems, laptop/notebook computing systems, tablet computingsystems, mobile phones, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)computing systems, and/or other computing device known in the art, whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated embodiment, the service provider device 500 includesa chassis 502 that houses the components of the service provider device500, only some of which are illustrated in FIG. 5. For example, thechassis 502 may house a processing system (not illustrated) and anon-transitory memory system (not illustrated) that includesinstructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause theprocessing system to provide a service engine 504 that is configured toperform the functions of the service engines and service providerdevices discussed below according to the method 100. For example, theservice engine 504 may include an application engine 506 that isconfigured to provide applications, webpages, and other serviceapplications to a user device, as well as provide any of the otherfunctions of the application engines discussed below. The service engine504 may also include a user analytics engine 508 that is configuredgather user information about the user and the user's interaction withan application, as well as perform any of the other functions of theuser analytics engines discussed below. The service engine 504 may alsoinclude smart contract communication engine 510 that is configured tocommunicate with a smart contract stored in a distributed ledger, aswell as perform any of the other functions of the smart contractcommunication engines discussed below.

The chassis 502 may also house a communication system 512 that iscoupled to the service engine 504 (e.g., via a coupling between thecommunication system 512 and the processing system) and that isconfigured to provide for communication through the network 406 asdetailed below. In the illustrated embodiment, the service providerdevice 500 also includes a storage device with a database 514 thatstores user information 514 a, application(s) 514 b, content 514 c, aswell as any of the other information utilized to provide thefunctionality discussed in further detail below. While the serviceprovider device 500 is illustrated as including a chassis 502 thathouses the database 514, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that the database 514 may be providedin a different device/chassis than the service provider device 500(e.g., a network attached storage device and/or any other device orstorage system known in the art) while remaining within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

Retelling back to FIG. 1, the method 100 begins at block 102 where afirst user interaction is detected between a first user device and acurrently viewed webpage. in an embodiment, at block 102, a user of theuser device 412 may interact with an application 514 b provided by theapplication engine 506 of the service provider device 402. For example,the user may navigate via a web browser to a website that includes aplurality of webpages hosted by the service provider device 402.However, the application 514 b may be any native application, webapplication, and/or any other application provided by the serviceprovider device 402 while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure. In various embodiments, the service provider device 402 mayreceive a user device identifier from the user device 412 interactingwith the service provider device 402. In an example, the user device 412may provide an HTML request to receive a webpage, and the HTML requestmay include a user device identifier for the user device 412 such as aphone number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control(MAC) address, and/or any other user device identifier and/or useridentifier that would be apparent to one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 104 where a first transaction thatincludes the first user device identifier for the first user device isgenerated. In an embodiment, at block 104, in response to detecting aninteraction between the between first user device and a currently viewedwebpage, the smart contract communication engine 510 on the serviceprovider device 402 may generate a transaction that “requests” userinformation about the user associated with the user device 412, which insome embodiments may require the smart contract communication engine 510generate a transfer that transfers funds to a payee. In a specificexample, a system provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of SanJose, Calif., United States may provide a wallet application that isaccessible by the smart contract communication engine 510, which may usethat wallet application to generate the transaction at block 104. In aspecific example, in response to the application engine 506 detectingthe user device accessing the webpage and identifying the IP address ofthe user device, the smart contract communication engine 510 maygenerate a crypto currency transaction (e.g., a zero amount cryptocurrency transaction, a crypto currency “micro” relatively low amount)transaction, etc.) that includes that IP address at block 104. As wouldbe understood by one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure, the first transaction may identify a public addressassociated with a smart contract in the distributed ledger that isutilized by the smart contract targeted content system 400.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 106 where the first transaction isbroadcast to cause the first transaction to be sent to the smartcontract stored in the distributed ledger. As would be understood by oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure, thebroadcasting of the first transaction generated at block 104 causes thefirst transaction to be sent to be received by each of the computingdevices in the distributed network that maintains the distributedledger, and the public address that is identified in the firsttransaction and associated with a smart contract in the distributedledger will cause those computing devices to access and/or provide forthe execution of that smart contract as discussed below.

For example, a transaction created conventionally as discussed above butthat also includes a user device identifier (e.g., the IP address of theuser device), may have the smart contract public address (which would bedesignated as a “receiving” public address in such conventional cryptocurrency transactions). As such, when that transaction is broadcast bythe service provider device 402, the distributed ledger devices 414 thatmaintain the distributed ledger 418 add that transaction to a block suchthat the transaction amount is transferred to the smart contract publicaddress that is associated with the smart contract (via the transferfrom the first service provider public address that created the firsttransaction). As discussed below, the transaction amount of the cryptocurrency that is transferred to the smart contract public address may besubsequently dealt with (i.e., transferred to the user, stored in theblockchain, transferred to another service provider, etc.) based on avariety of rules for dealing with crypto currency in the smart contracttargeting content system 400 that may be defined by the smart contractprovided at the smart contract public address. While some examples ofthe functionality provided by a smart contract are detailed below, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize how a smart contract may be applied in the method 100 toprovide for any of the functionality described herein.

In various embodiments, the smart contract may be associated (e.g., atthe smart contract address on the blockchain) with a plurality oftransactions that each includes user information associated with a userdevice identifier (e.g., the IP address discussed above). Of anyplurality of transactions associated with a smart contract in the smartcontract targeted content system 400, any portion of those transactionsmay include the same user device identifier, and may include userinformation that was associated with the smart contract prior to method100, For example, the user device 412 may have interacted with a webpageof the service provider device 402 and/or the service provider device408 and, in response, the user analytics engine 508 of the serviceprovider device(s) 402 and/or 408 may have tracked the user'sinteractions with any respective website to gather and store userinformation that describes those interactions. For example, the userinformation may include which webpages of the website were visited bythe user of the user device 412, a duration of time that the first userspent at a webpage, webpage links selected by the user, curser trackinginformation, heat maps, search engine queries, purchases completed bythe user, demographic information that the user inserted into fields ofthe webpage, and/or any other user information that can be gathered fromuser interactions with a webpage and/or used to provide targeted contentto the user that would be apparent to one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure.

As such, the user analytics engine 508 may include any user trackingand/or analytics software configured to track a user's interactions witha website to gather the user information such as, for example, GOOGLE™Analytics, HOTJAR™, INSPECTLET™, CLICKTALE™, and/or any other sessiontracking programs that would be apparent to one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure.

In various embodiments and in response to a user access of theirwebsite/webpage, the service provider device 402 and/or the serviceprovider device 408 may generate a transaction (e.g., as described aboveusing the smart contract communication engine 510) that includes thefirst user device identifier for the user device 412 that interactedwith the webpage of the service provider device 402 and/or 408, alongwith data that provides for access to the user information gathered fromthe interaction. While in some examples, all of the user informationgathered from the interaction may be included directly in thetransaction for storage on the blockchain/distributed ledger, in otherexamples the user information gathered from the interaction may bestored in the user information database 404 and/or the user informationdatabase 410 maintained by the service provider devices(s), and thetransaction may include a link to user information database that providefor access to that user information. As would be understood by one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure, the use oflinks in the transaction to provide access to user information reducesthe size of the transaction and the amount of data that must be storedon the distributed ledger 414, which may reduce processing timeassociated with creating and maintaining the distributed ledger. Invarious examples, the transaction may also include an amount of thecrypto currency as described above. The service provider device 402and/or the service provider device 408 may broadcast the transactionthat identifies the smart contract public address with which the smartcontract is associated, along with a transaction amount, similarly asdescribed in the conventional crypto currency blockchain system above.As such, a plurality of transactions sent to the smart contract mayassociate user identifiers with that smart contract, and respectivelinks to user information that describes previous interactions of anassociated user with websites/webpages/content.

In various embodiments, transactions that associate user identifiers andrespective links to user information with smart contracts, as well astransactions that request user information, may not require any amountof crypto currency. However, sending crypto currency along with suchtransactions may build up an amount of crypto currency that is availableto the smart contract for use in compensating users for use of the smartcontract targeted content system 400. For example, with reference toFIG. 6, the smart contract 602 may generate transactions and requestsfor user information from the service provider device 402 and/or 408when the smart contract 602. receives a request for user information ina transaction from the service provider device 402. The smart contractmay use the crypto currency received in the request transaction toincentivize the service provider device 402 and/or 408 to provide theuser information that is associated with the first user deviceidentifier and stored on the user information database 404 and/or 410,respectively. In various embodiments, the service provider devices 402and/or 408 may voluntarily provide user information in transactions whenthose service provider devices gather that user information (in responseto a user accessing their website/webpage). In some embodiments, thesmart contract may include rules that limit what user information aservice provider device may access unless that service provider devicealso provides user information to the smart contract, which provides anincentive for the service provider to provide user information to thesmart contract targeted content system 400.

As such, each of the user information transactions associated with thesmart contract may include user information associated with a respectiveuser device. For example, first user information may be associated witha second user interaction (between the user device 412 and a previouslyviewed webpage) that occurred prior to the first user interaction inblock 102 of method 100, which may include the user of the user device412 interacting with a webpage of the service provider device 402 and/ora webpage of the service provider device 408. Upon receiving a cryptocurrency and a user device identifier included in the first transactionthat requests user information, the smart contract may execute toprovide all of the first user information that is associated with thatuser device identifier and that is stored in the transactions associatedwith that smart contract. However, in various examples, the smartcontract may be configured with various rules that determine what userinformation is received. For example, the smart contract may includerules to provide user information from: a predefined number of mostrecent transactions (e.g., last 5 transactions, last 10 transactions,etc.) that include the user device identifier, transactions associatedwith the certain service providers (e.g., ignore transactions associatedwith the service provider device that is providing the request for userinformation), transactions that include the user device identifier thatwere completed in a predefined time period (e.g., the transactions thatinclude the user device identifier and that were contributed in the lasthour, the past day, the past week, the past month, the past six months,the past year, and/or any other time duration), and/or any otherconditions or events that would be apparent to one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a block diagram of an example of a smartcontract data structure 600 that may be included in the distributedledger 418, The smart contract data structure 600 may include a smartcontract 602 that is provided on the distributed ledger 418 andassociated with a smart contract public address 604. Prior to the method100 and as discussed above, the smart contract 602 may have gatheredand/or received transactions that each include user informationcollected by respective service provider devices during user sessionsbetween user devices and webpages provided by those service providerdevices. For example, in FIG. 6A. a transaction 606 a was added to thedistributed ledger 418 in association with the smart contract 602, andincludes a first user device identifier, a link to first userinformation, and in some embodiments a first service provider identifierof a first service provider that provided the transaction 606 a to thesmart contract 602. Similarly, a transaction 606 b was added to thedistributed ledger 418 in association with the smart contract 602, andincludes a second user device identifier of a second user device, a linkto second user information, and the first service provider identifier ofthe first service provider that provided the transaction 606 b to thesmart contract 602. A transaction 606 c was also added to thedistributed ledger 418 in association with the smart contract 602, andincludes the first user device identifier of the first user device, alink to third user information, and the second service provideridentifier of the second service provider that provided the transaction606 c to the smart contract 602. A transaction 606 d was also added tothe distributed ledger 418 in association with the smart contract 602,and includes a third user device identifier of a third user device, alink to fourth user device information, and a third service provideridentifier of a third service provider that provided the transaction 606d to the smart contract 602. The smart contract 602 may be associated upto the nth transaction 606 e which may include an nth user deviceidentifier of an nth user device, a link to nth user information, and annth service provider identifier of an nth service provider that providedthe nth transaction 606 e to the smart contract 602. While the exampletransactions 606 a-606 e include a single user information entry and asingle user device identifier, one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will recognize that a plurality of userinformation entries and a plurality of respective user deviceidentifiers may be included in a transaction while remaining within thescope of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6B and block 106 of method 100, the smart contract 602may then receive the transaction (e.g., transaction 606 f) that wasbroadcast by the service provider device 402 in block 106 to the smartcontract public address 604. The smart contract 602 may execute uponreceiving the transaction 606 f and determine that the transaction 606 fis requesting user information for the user device 412 associated withthe first user device identifier (e.g., USER ID1) that is included inthe transaction 606 f. The execution of the smart contract 602 operatesto gather all the user information associated with the first user deviceidentifier (e.g., USER ID1) and provide that user information to theservice provider device 402. For example, the smart contract 602 mayprovide the links to first user information from transactions 606 a and606 c (e.g., LINK TO DATA1, LINK TO DATA 3) based on both including thefirst user device identifier (e.g., USER ID1). Furthermore, the smartcontract may disperse crypto currency that is included in thetransaction 606 f and/or stored in association with the smart contracton the public ledger to the service provider public addresses of theservice providers that provided the user information in transactions 606a and 606 c (i.e., as a reward for providing user information that waslater used by another service provider).

While the examples above describe the smart contract targeted contentsystem 400 including a single smart contract, in various embodiments aplurality of smart contracts that interact with each other areenvisioned as falling within the scope of the present disclosure.Furthermore, in some embodiments, the smart contract public address maybe associated with smart contract tokens that are transferrablesimilarly to the electronic coins discussed above. However, in otherembodiments, the smart contract public address may be utilized for theproviding of user information to enable the provisioning of targetedcontent (e.g., via the signing of zero-token-transactions) without theneed for token(s) or electronic coins to be allocated to that smartcontract public address. While a few alternatives are described, one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognizethat the smart contract and its smart contract public addresses mayfunction in a variety of manners that will fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 108 where, in response to theexecution of the smart contract based on the smart contract receivingthe first transaction, first user information is received. In anembodiment at block 108, the service provider device 402 may receive thefirst user information. As discussed above, the first user informationmay be associated with a second user interaction between the first userdevice and a previously viewed webpage that occurred prior to the firstuser interaction as described above. For example, the first userinformation may identify webpages of a website that were previouslyvisited by the user of the user device 412, a duration of time that userpreviously spent at a webpage, webpage links previously selected by theuser, curser tracking information for a previous web session, searchengine queries provided in a previous web session, purchases previouslycompleted by the user, demographic information that the user previouslyinserted into fields of a webpage, and/or any other user informationthat can be gathered from user interactions with a webpage and/or usedto provide targeted content to the user and that would be apparent toone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. Invarious examples, the first user information received based on theexecution of the smart contract may include one or more links to thefirst user information that the service provider device 402 may use inorder to retrieve that user information from one or more userinformation databases (e.g., the user information database 404 and theuser information database 410) controlled by another service providerdevice.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 110 where content is determinedfor display on the first user device via the currently viewed webpagebased on the first user information. In an embodiment, at block 110, theapplication engine 506 that is included in the service provider device402 may determine content (e.g., an audio object, a video object, animage, text, and/or other content that would be apparent to one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure), which may beincluded in the content 514 c, for display via the currently viewedwebpage on the user device. For example, the application engine 506 mayinclude a plurality of rules, conditions, criteria, and/or prioritiesthat, when satisfied, causes one or more content objects to be selectedfor display on the user device 412 via a webpage being provided fordisplay on that user device 412. For example, the user informationprovided as a result of the execution of the smart contract may beutilized by the application engine 506 to select content based oncontent provisioning rules. For example, the application engine 506 mayselect content based on the user information indicating that thatcontent will generate the most revenue when displayed to that user(e.g., because the user has previously purchased products/servicesassociated with that content). As another example, the application mayselect content based on the user information indicating that thatcontent has not been previously viewed by the user device 412 so thatthe content is not overly repetitive. As another example, the languageof the content may be tailored based on the first user information(e.g., based on that first user information indicating that particularlanguage has previously resulted in a desired user action).

In another example of the use of a content provisioning rule, contentmay be selected for display based on previous purchase history orinterest of the user that is detailed in the first user information. Inanother example, the content may be selected based on the userinformation indicating that that content that was recently viewed (e.g.,the user information may indicate that the user recently viewed a shoewebsite, and the application engine 506 may determine and select shoeadvertisements to provide for display on the user device 412). Whilespecific examples of the application engine 506 determining whichcontent to provide for display on the user device 412 based on thereceived user information have been discussed, one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize other scenariosof selecting content based on user information of the present disclosurewill fall within the scope of the present disclosure as well.Furthermore, while the application engine 506 included on the serviceprovider device 402 is described as determining the content to bedisplayed based on the first user information associated with the userdevice 412, in various embodiments a content server and/or a third partyserver coupled to the service provider device 402 through the network406 may determine which content to provide the user device 412 based onthe first user information, and then provide that content to the serviceprovider device 402 for display on the webpage or website, and theservice provider device 402 may insert that content into the currentlyviewed webpage via the application engine 506.

The method then proceeds to block 112 where the content is provided fordisplay on the first user device within the currently viewed webpage. Inan embodiment at block 112, the application engine 506 may provide theselected content over the network 406 to the user device 412 to bedisplayed on the display system 412 a. The application engine 506 mayincorporate the content into the application being provided to the userdevice 412. For example, the content may be included in the currentlyviewed webpage that is displayed on the user device 412. The applicationengine 506 may then provide the content via the currently viewed webpageover the network 406 to be displayed on the display system 412 a of theuser device 412 via a web browser application.

While the user of the user device 412 is viewing the currently viewedwebpage that includes the targeted content, the user analytics engine508 of the service provider device 402 may gather second userinformation about the user's interactions with the currently viewedwebpage. Similarly as described above, in response to the user providingany interaction with the targeted content displayed on the user device,the service provider device 402 may generate a second transaction thatincludes the first user device identifier and that is associated withsecond user information that describes that interaction. The serviceprovider device 402 may broadcast the second transaction to cause thesecond transaction to be sent to the smart contract included in thedistributed ledger 418. As discussed above, in some embodiments theservice provider device 402 may receive, via the first service providerpublic address on the distributed ledger 418 in response to causing thesecond transaction including the second user information to be sent tothe smart contract, a third transaction that includes an amount ofcrypto currency that incentivizes the sending of that user informationto the smart contract targeted content system 400.

Referring to FIG. 6C, the service provider device 402 may then broadcastthe transaction that includes the second user information and the userdevice identifier to the smart contract 602 via the smart contractpublic address 604. The transaction may be processed as the transaction606 g as a block in the distributed ledger 418 to cause it to beassociated with the smart contract 602 on the distributed ledger device414. In response, the smart contract 602 may generate the thirdtransaction that includes an amount of crypto currency for transfer tothe first service provider device that provided the second userinformation to the smart contract (or in response to any of theconditions described above being satisfied).

In various embodiments, the smart contract 602 may require that theservice provider device 402 have permission from a user of the userdevice 412 to gather user information associated with user interactionswith a webpage/website provided the service provider device 402 and/orprovide that user information to the smart contract 602. For example,each transaction 606 a-606 e may include a user public address that isassociated with the user device identifier, and when the smart contract602 is executed in response to receiving a transaction and the userpublic address is included in that transaction, the smart contract 602may determine that user has given permission to the service providerdevice 402 to track and gather user information about the user andprovide that user information to the smart contract 602. The smartcontract 602 may then provide crypto currency to that user publicaddress each time the user information is provided to a service providerdevice.

In another example, the service provider device 402 and the user device412 may generate a transaction where crypto currency is provided from aservice provider public address to a user public address. Thattransaction may then be identified to the smart contract 602 to indicatethat the user has given permission to the service provider device togather and provide user information associated with the user of the userdevice 412. In another example, the user device 412 may generate a smartcontract that may then be associated with the smart contract 602, andthe smart contract generated by the user device 412 may provide rules tothe smart contract 602 that define which service providers may providethe associated user's user information, which service providers canretrieve the user's user information, when the user information isavailable, the type of user information that is available, and/or otherrules or restrictions that allow a user to have control over the privacyof their user information and that would apparent to one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure. While specific examples ofa user controlling user information that may be gathered and sharedbetween service provider devices is discussed, one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize a wide variety oftechniques that allow the user to control how that user's informationmay be gathered and/or shared between service provider devices withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

Thus, systems and methods have been described for providing targetedcontent using user information gathered and provided via smartcontracts) on a distributed ledger. A targeted content system may usesmart contracts to provide targeted advertisement in a webpage currentlybeing viewed by a user by determining a user device identifierassociated with the user's device that is interacting with the currentlydisplayed webpage. The service provider device may then include thatuser device identifier in a transaction that is broadcast to a smartcontract that is included on a distributed ledger and that is associatedwith a plurality of previous transactions that are configured to provideaccess to user information generated by that user in previousinteractions with other webpages. The smart contract may execute inresponse to receiving the transaction with the user device identifier,and operate to retrieve some or all of the user information associatedwith the user device identifier for that user. The smart contract mayprovide that user information to the service provider device for use inmaking a determination as to what content to provide in the currentlyviewed webpage. Thus, the system and method of the present disclosureremove the need for cookies to be stored on the user device to trackuser interactions, while allowing a user to control user informationthat is associated with that user and that would otherwise be providedto advertisers without the user's knowledge and/or without anycompensation (e.g., as is provided in the systems and methods of thepresent disclosure via rules in the smart contract that may provide forthe transfer of crypto currency to a user public address of the userwhen their user information is used).

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of a networked system 700 used inthe smart contract targeted content system 400 described above isillustrated. The networked system 700 includes a plurality of userdevices 702, a plurality of distributed ledger devices 704, and aplurality of system provider devices 706 in communication over a network708. Any of the user devices 702 may be the user devices operated by theusers, discussed above. Any of the distributed ledger devices 704 may bethe distributed ledger devices discussed above. Any of the systemprovider devices 706 may be the system provider devices operated by thesystem providers, discussed above.

The user devices 702, distributed ledger devices 704, and/or systemprovider devices 706 may each include one or more processors, memories,and other appropriate components for executing instructions such asprogram code and/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediumsto implement the various applications, data, and steps described herein.For example, such instructions may be stored in one or more computerreadable mediums such as memories or data storage devices internaland/or external to various components of the system 700, and/oraccessible over the network 708.

The network 708 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network708 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The user devices 702 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 708. For example, in one embodiment,the user devices 702 may be implemented as a personal computer of a userin communication with the Internet. In other embodiments, the userdevices 702 may be a smart phone, wearable computing device, laptopcomputer, and/or other types of computing devices.

The user devices 702 may include one or more browser applications whichmay be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface to permitthe user to browse information available over the network 708. Forexample, in one embodiment, the browser application may be implementedas a web browser configured to view information available over theInternet.

The user devices 702 may also include one or more toolbar applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide user-side processing forperforming desired tasks in response to operations selected by the user.In one embodiment, the toolbar application may display a user interfacein connection with the browser application.

The user devices 702 may further include other applications as may bedesired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to theuser devices 702. In particular, the other applications may include apayment application for payments assisted by a payment service provider.The other applications may also include security applications forimplementing user-side security features, programmatic user applicationsfor interfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces(APIs) over the network 708, or other types of applications. Emailand/or text applications may also be included, which allow the user tosend and receive emails and/or text messages through the network 708.The user devices 702 include one or more user and/or device identifierswhich may be implemented, for example, as operating system registryentries, cookies associated with the browser application, identifiersassociated with hardware of the user devices 702, or other appropriateidentifiers, such as a phone number. In one embodiment, the useridentifier may be used to associate the user with a particular accountas further described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an embodiment of a user device 800 isillustrated. The device 800 may be any of the user devices discussedabove. The device 800 includes a chassis 802 having a display 804 and aninput device including the display 804 and a plurality of input buttons806. One of skill in the art will recognize that the device 800 is aportable or mobile phone including a touch screen input device and aplurality of input buttons that allow the functionality discussed abovewith reference to the method 100. However, a variety of otherportable/mobile devices and/or desktop devices may be used in the method100 without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a computer system 900 suitablefor implementing, for example, the user devices, distributed ledgerdevices, and/or system provider devices, is illustrated. It should beappreciated that other devices utilized in the distributed ledgerauthentication system discussed above may be implemented as the computersystem 900 in a manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 900, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 902 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 904 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 906 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 908 (e.g., ROM), a disk drive component910 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interface component 912(e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 914 (e.g., CRT orLCD), an input component 918 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, or virtualkeyboard), a cursor control component 920 (e.g., mouse, pointer, ortrackball), and/or a location determination component 922 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art). In one implementation, the disk drivecomponent 910 may comprise a database having one or more disk drivecomponents.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 900 performs specific operations by the processor 904 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component906, such as described herein with respect to the payer devices, payeedevices, user devices, payment service provider devices, and/or systemprovider devices. Such instructions may be read into the system memorycomponent 906 from another computer readable medium, such as the staticstorage component 908 or the disk drive component 910. In otherembodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement the presentdisclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor904 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 910, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 906, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 902. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 900. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 900 coupledby a communication link 924 to the network 708 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 900 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 924 and the networkinterface component 912. The network interface component 912 may includean antenna, either separate or integrated, to enable transmission andreception via the communication link 924. Received program code may beexecuted by processor 904 as received and/or stored in disk drivecomponent 910 or some other non-volatile storage component forexecution.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. Having thus describedembodiments of the present disclosure, persons of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A targeted content system, comprising: anon-transitory memory; and one or more hardware processors coupled tothe non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from thenon-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operationscomprising: detecting a first user interaction between a first userdevice and a currently viewed webpage; generating a first transactionthat includes a first user device identifier for the first user device;broadcasting the first transaction to cause the first transaction to besent to a smart contract stored in a distributed ledger; receiving, inresponse to the execution of the smart contract based on receiving thefirst transaction, first user information associated with a second userinteraction between the first user device and a previously viewedwebpage that occurred prior to the first user interaction; determining,based on the first user information, content for display on the firstuser device via the currently viewed webpage; and providing, for displayon the first user device, the content within the currently viewedwebpage.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: gathering, based on a third user interaction between the firstuser device and the currently viewed webpage, second user information;generating a second transaction that includes the first user deviceidentifier and that is associated with second user information; andbroadcasting the second transaction to cause the second transaction tobe sent to the smart contract included in the distributed ledger.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving,via a public address on the distributed ledger in response to causingthe second transaction including the second user information to be sentto the smart contract, a third transaction that includes an amount ofcrypto currency.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first transactionincludes an amount of crypto currency that is sent to a public addresson the distributed ledger that is associated with the smart contract. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the first user information associatedwith the second user interaction between the first user device and thepreviously viewed webpage includes a link to the first user informationstored in a user information database.
 6. The system of claim 1, whereinthe first user information associated with the second user interactionbetween the first user device and the previously viewed webpage includesdata describing at least one advertisement viewed on the previouslyviewed webpage.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content includesat least one advertisement that is based on the second user interactionwith the previously viewed webpage.
 8. A method for providing targetedcontent using a smart contract, comprising detecting, by a serviceprovider device, a first user interaction between a first user deviceand a currently viewed webpage; generating, by the service providerdevice, a first transaction that includes a first user device identifierfor the first user device; broadcasting, by the service provider device,the first transaction to cause the first transaction to be sent to asmart contract stored in a distributed ledger; receiving, by the serviceprovider device in response to the execution of the smart contract basedon receiving the first transaction, first user information associatedwith a second user interaction between the first user device and apreviously viewed webpage that occurred prior to the first userinteraction; determining, by the service provider device and based onthe first user information, content for display on the first user devicevia the currently viewed webpage; and providing, by the service providerdevice for display on the first user device, the content within thecurrently viewed webpage.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:gathering, by the service provider device based on a third userinteraction between the first user device and the currently viewedwebpage, second user information; generating, by the service providerdevice, a second transaction that includes the first user deviceidentifier and that is associated with second user information; andbroadcasting, by the service provider device, the second transaction tocause the second transaction to be sent to the smart contract includedin the distributed ledger.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: receiving, by the service provider device via a publicaddress on the distributed ledger in response to causing the secondtransaction including the second user information to be sent to thesmart contract, a third transaction that includes an amount of cryptocurrency.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first transactionincludes an amount of crypto currency that is sent to a public addresson the distributed ledger that is associated with the smart contract.12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first user information associatedwith the second user interaction between the first user device and thepreviously viewed webpage includes a link to the first user informationstored in a user information database.
 13. The method of claim 8,wherein the first user information associated with the second userinteraction between the first user device and the previously viewedwebpage includes data describing at least one advertisement viewed onthe previously viewed webpage.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein thecontent includes at least one advertisement that is based on the seconduser interaction with the previously viewed webpage.
 15. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereonmachine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to performoperations comprising: detecting a first user interaction between afirst user device and a currently viewed webpage; generating a firsttransaction that includes a first user device identifier for the firstuser device; broadcasting the first transaction to cause the firsttransaction to be sent to a smart contract stored in a distributedledger; receiving, in response to the execution of the smart contractbased on receiving the first transaction, first user informationassociated with a second user interaction between the first user deviceand a previously viewed webpage that occurred prior to the first userinteraction; determining, based on the first user information, contentfor display on the first user device via the currently viewed webpage;and providing, for display on the first user device, the content withinthe currently viewed webpage.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: gathering,based on a third user interaction between the first user device and thecurrently viewed webpage, second user information; generating a secondtransaction that includes the first user device identifier and that isassociated with second user information; and broadcasting the secondtransaction to cause the second transaction to be sent to the smartcontract included in the distributed ledger.
 17. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving, via a public address on the distributed ledger inresponse to causing the second transaction including the second userinformation to be sent to the smart contract, a third transaction thatincludes an amount of crypto currency.
 18. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first transactionincludes an amount of crypto currency that is sent to a public addresson the distributed ledger that is associated with the smart contract.19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein thefirst user information associated with the second user interactionbetween the first user device and the previously viewed webpage includesa link to the first user information stored in a user informationdatabase.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the first user information associated with the second userinteraction between the first user device and the previously viewedwebpage includes data describing at least one advertisement viewed onthe previously viewed webpage.